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Game commentary

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Blue Devils invade West Point, escape with win**

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- It was supposed to be easy. Duke was going to invade West Point, N.Y., and simply dismantle another out-gunned service academy. After all, Duke dispatched Army 43-7 last year in the friendly confines of Wallace Wade Stadium. Except one doesn't just travel to United States Military Academy and leave without a fight. Perhaps Blue Devil head coach Fred Goldsmith was the only one who knew where he was leading his team.

"I think that at first instance, you say that we were big favorites, and we should have done better," Goldsmith said. "But by the same token, we knew that it would be hard to come up here and win. Army is a darn good football team."

Michie Stadium, home of the Cadets, sits on an inlet of the Hudson River. The same place where the British Navy attempted an invasion during the War of 1812. What could a school of ground warfare do against the world's best navy?

Well, the cadets strung a chain across the Hudson, trapping the English ships. The students then bombarded the helpless enemies from the safety of the of the overlooking cliffs. The British never came back.

With Khayat still hampered by a groin pull, Fischer spread the ball around, connecting with eight different receivers. Subbing for Khayat at tight end, sophomore Jeff Hodrick grabbed three balls for 44 yards.

The Blue Devils frequently employed a five-wide receiver set. In this West Coast offense, Fischer successfully followed his progression on reads and hit several receivers streaking underneath the Cadet defense.

Sophomore A-back Joe Opalenick found many holes, as he also recorded a career-day with nine catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.

"We thought with the eight-man front, they would be leaving something open," Opalenick said. "Spence was reading the defense perfectly and our line was giving him great time all day. So everything just clicked for us."

Sophomore running back Laymarr Marshall picked up 90 yards on 20 carries, forcing Army to keep its front line reinforced. However, the Blue Devils' 460 total yards of offense resulted from the stellar play of their offensive line. Whether called upon to run or pass block, the linemen kept the Cadets at bay.

Despite all of these career days, the Blue Devil offense committed several mental mistakes that kept the Cadets in the game. With Army punter Ian Hughes averaging only 23.7 yards on six punts, Duke won the game of field position.

Yet time after time the offense stalled in Cadet territory and failed to punch it in from the red zone. It struggled all day to put up points.

But when the game was on the line, Fischer led his team to the promised land. With images of last week's comeback drive against Rutgers still lingering, Duke once again performed in the clutch. After a 10-yard punt from Hughes, Duke took over at the Army 45 with 2:51 left, trailing 21-20.

"Spence came into the huddle, cut the bullcrap and said, Here we go,"' Opalenick said. "Our eyes lit up and everyone looked at each other and decided,This is it. We are doing it."'

Fischer wasn't quite done inspiring his team. Facing a third-and-9 at the Army 28 with just over a minute left, Fischer scrambled for the necessary yards to keep the drive alive.

"I tried to get Hodrick down the middle because they were in a two-deep zone, but he got jammed a little bit," Fischer said. "There was nobody underneath, so once Hodrick wasn't open, I just decided to run with it. I tried not to make a mistake, and get as close as I could to let Tommy [Cochran] kick it."

With the scramble, Fischer set up a chip-shot for senior Tom Cochran to win the game.

"Spence Fischer is a great quarterback, and he won that game for them at the end," Army senior defensive back Jim Cantelupe said. "That's what great quarterbacks do. He is competitor, and he hates losing, too. You can see it in him."

Pretty good praise coming from a guy whose predecessors stopped the British Navy only yards from the field where Fischer performed some minor heroics of his own.